JP2001225794A - Water jet-propelled ship driven by motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide pollution-free ship having no possibility of polluting the water and the atmosphere by using a motor as the drive source of the propulsion unit of the water jet-propelled ship, and using a fuel cell or a storage battery as its power supply. SOLUTION: The AC motor 10a is used as the rotary drive source of the impeller 5 of the water jet propulsion unit 2 in the ship 1 mounted with the water jet propulsion unit 2, and the fuel cell 12 or the storage battery 14 is used as the power supply of the AC motor 10a. An inverter 11 is provided in the front of the AC motor 10a to convert the DC current generated from the fuel cell 12 or the storage battery 14 into an AC current, the inverter 11 can also control frequency conversion, thus the speed of the ship 1 can easily be controlled. Since only the motor and the battery are used as the drive source of the propulsion unit, the exhaust gas including a noxious material causing the pollusion in the water and the atmosphere is not discharged, and the ship is optimum as a sightseeing, pleasure or diving ship.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water jet propulsion device using an electric motor as a drive source for an impeller of a jet pump and using a battery as a power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of water jet propulsion machine is suitable for high-speed cruising of a ship, and furthermore, the impeller is located inside a pump casing and no rotating object protrudes outside, so that safety is secured. It is widely used as a propulsion device that can also run in shallow water, and a prime mover such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine is used as a drive source of the impeller, and in a small watercraft for one or two persons, for example, In some cases, a battery and an electric motor are used as a drive source of a propulsion device, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-85471.

[0003]

As described above, a conventional water jet propulsion device uses a prime mover such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine as a drive source of a pressurizing pump. These prime movers are driven while burning petroleum fuel, and the exhaust gas after combustion is high in temperature and contains harmful substances such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides. Is discharged inside. Global warming due to the large amount of carbon dioxide contained in such exhaust gas, and nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides become nitric acid and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, which become acid rain and cause forest death, rivers and lakes The problem is that it is having an adverse effect.

In addition, the conventional water jet propulsion unit and the prime mover are arranged as close as possible in view of the strength of the drive shaft and the transmission efficiency. That is, since these heavy objects are located at the rear part of the boat, it is necessary to design in consideration of the weight distribution of these devices when designing the ship, and there is a problem that it is difficult to freely design. Further, since the above-described motor is driven by changing the vertical movement of the piston into a rotational movement, there is a problem that vibration and noise are large, and a large cost is required to reduce the vibration and noise.

In the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-85471, a DC motor is used for driving a jet pump, and the problems caused by using the above-described prime mover are solved. However, there is no particular problem in using a DC motor as a small watercraft for one or two people as in the invention of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-85471. There is a problem that the external shape becomes large and the weight becomes heavy. Further, the electric motor itself becomes expensive and causes an increase in cost. Also, when the DC motor is rotating at high speed,
When the ship is running at high speed, it has low torque and is not suitable for high speed running, which is a characteristic of water jet propulsion boats.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a water for obtaining propulsion by pressurizing water sucked into a suction casing of a ship by an impeller of a pump casing and jetting pressurized water from a discharge casing. An AC motor is used as a drive source of the jet propulsion device, and a fuel cell or a storage battery is used as a power source. Inverters for frequency conversion and DC / AC conversion are provided between the AC motor and the fuel cell or storage battery.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention, there is provided a water jet having a structure as described above, in which water sucked into a suction casing is pressurized by an impeller of a pump casing, and pressurized water is jetted from a discharge casing to obtain propulsion of a boat. An AC motor is used as a rotation drive source for the impeller of the propulsion device. AC motors are relatively inexpensive because of their relatively simple structure, and are smaller and lighter than DC motors. Furthermore, since it is suitable for high-speed rotation, it is suitable as a drive source for a water jet propulsion boat for high-speed running. A fuel cell is used as a power source for the AC motor. Power is generated by supplying hydrogen and oxygen to the fuel cell described above, and this electricity is extracted and supplied to an AC motor.However, since the electricity extracted from the fuel cell is a DC current, the electricity between the fuel cell and the AC motor is And an inverter for converting DC current to AC current. Further, by the frequency conversion operation in the inverter, the rotation speed of the AC motor is controlled,
The speed of the water jet propulsion boat can be easily controlled.

[0008] The fuel used in the above fuel cell includes:
A method of storing and supplying pure hydrogen in a hydrogen storage alloy tank,
Alternatively, there is a method in which methanol, natural gas, or the like is extracted through a reformer and hydrogen is supplied to a fuel cell. Incidentally, a storage battery may be used as a power source for the AC motor instead of the above-described fuel cell.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a side view in which a part of a water jet propulsion boat equipped with the propulsion device of the present invention is cut, and FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a system of an inboard water jet propulsion device 2. The water sucked from the suction casing 3 of the water jet propulsion device 2 disposed at the bottom of the boat 1 of FIG. 1 is pressurized by an impeller 5 provided in a pump casing 4, and the pressurized water is guided by a guide blade 6. The flow is rectified and is ejected from the ejection port 8 at the rear end of the discharge casing 7 to obtain a propulsive force.

One end of a main shaft 9 is fitted to the impeller 5 of FIG. 2, and the other end of the main shaft 9 protrudes from the pump casing 4 and extends to the outside. A shaft coupling 9a is provided at the other end of the main shaft 9, and an AC motor 10a is connected to the shaft coupling 9a. The power source of the AC motor 10a uses a fuel cell 12, and the fuel stored in the fuel tank 13 is used as fuel for the fuel cell 12. When hydrogen and oxygen (air) are supplied to the inside of the fuel cell 12 to cause an electrochemical reaction, power is generated and electricity can be extracted. And
Water generated after a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen is discharged from the fuel cell 12.

The electricity extracted from the fuel cell 12 is a direct current. The DC current is converted into an AC current by the inverter 11 and then supplied to the AC motor 10a, and the AC motor 10a is driven to rotate, so that the impeller 5 rotates to obtain water jet propulsion. is there. The inverter 11 is connected to the driver's seat 1
5, the frequency can be converted, and the rotation speed of the AC motor 10a can be varied. That is, since the rotation speed of the impeller 5 can be changed, the speed control of the boat 1 can be easily performed.

Next, the propulsion device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a system of the outboard water jet propulsion device 2. An AC motor 10 b is built in a support member 6 a of the guide blade 6 provided in the water jet propulsion device 2, and the rotating shaft of the AC motor 10 b is connected to the suction casing 3.
Side, and the impeller 5 is fitted to this rotating shaft.
The water sucked from the suction casing 3 is pressurized by the impeller 5 and rectified by the guide blades 6, and is then jetted out of the jet port 8 at the rear end of the discharge casing 7 as a water jet stream. As the power source of the AC motor 10b, a fuel cell 12 is used as in the case of the inboard waterjet propulsion device 2 described in detail in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the water jet propulsion device 2 of an inboard type.
The storage battery 14 is used in place of the fuel cell 12 as the power source a. Since the storage battery 14 is also taken out with a direct current similarly to the fuel cell 12, it is converted into an alternating current by the inverter 11. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the outboard type water jet propulsion device 2, in which a storage battery 14 is used as a power source for the AC motor 10b instead of the fuel cell 12 as described above.

[0014]

The water jet propulsion watercraft of the present invention uses an AC motor as a rotary drive source for the pump impeller, and uses a fuel cell or a storage battery as a power source for the AC motor, so that a prime mover such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine is used. As described above, there is no emission of exhaust gas containing harmful substances such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, and there is no pollution of water or the atmosphere. Furthermore, since the rotation of the AC motor is transmitted directly to the impeller of the pump, there is no vibration or noise due to the vertical movement as in the above-mentioned motor, and there is no sightseeing boat, pleasure boat or diving boat, whale or dolphin etc. Most suitable for watching marine life.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view in which a part of a water jet propulsion boat driven by an electric motor according to the present invention is cut off.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an inboard waterjet propulsion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of an outboard water jet propulsion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of a water jet propulsion device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram of a water jet propulsion device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Boat 2 Water jet propulsion device 3 Suction casing 4 Pump casing 5 Impeller 6 Guide blade 6a Support member 7 Discharge casing 10a, 10b AC motor 11 Inverter 12 Fuel cell 14 Storage battery

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. The water sucked into a suction casing (3) is pressurized by an impeller (5) of a pump casing (4), and pressurized water is injected from a discharge casing (7) to increase the propulsive force of the boat (1). In the obtained water jet propulsion device (2),
The rotary drive source of the impeller (5) is an AC motor (10a)
A fuel cell (12) was used as a power source for the AC motor (10a), and an inverter (11) for frequency conversion and DC / AC conversion was provided between the AC motor (10a) and the fuel cell (12). A water-jet propulsion boat driven by an electric motor. 2. The water jet propulsion device (2) as described above, wherein the AC motor (10b) directly connected to the impeller (5) of the pump casing (4) is provided inside the support member (6a) of the guide blade (6). The water jet propulsion boat driven by an electric motor according to claim 1, wherein the water jet propulsion boat is built in an outboard type propulsion machine. 3. The water jet propulsion boat driven by an electric motor according to claim 1, wherein a storage battery (14) is used as a power supply for the AC motor (10a, 10b).